Medical testing is cheaper in Mexico

Even if you have never had a medical condition more serious than chapped lips, once you turn 50, you start to feel like your days are numbered. Moles you never noticed, little coughs, indigestion - everything is suspect.

As much as I believe in early detection tests, there sure are a lot of them. Every time I go in for my annual physical and see that picture on the wall of all my internal organs. You know the one that has been in every doctor's office you've ever been to since you were 10 years old. I still squeeze my eyes shut and tell my doctor to never, ever explain any of that to me.

No matter how good you feel, annual visits are nerve-racking.

Now and then exam results put you in that gray area of "things to keep an eye on." In the case of questionable test results ("The talk of the lunch break room" once in my case), you will probably be told to come back in six months to see if anything worse has happened.

(For imaginative people like me, this message means only one thing, ”brain tumor.” I spend that time positive I’m incubating something.)

Hopefully, after that worrisome six month wait, you will receive an “Okay, it wasn’t weird this time...(Just kidding!)"

Then the instructions are to come back in three years for follow up. Three years? Doesn't that seem like a long time after those results they questioned?

Do second opinions save lives?

At issue is insurance screening guidelines. To control costs, insurance companies only allow doctors to give tests under certain conditions or within certain periods. A few years ago, doctors were accused of being overly zealous in testing and driving up costs.

Nowadays, U.S insurance companies have pretty strict guidelines. Irregularities might mean they test every year. If you have never had a bad test, your might wait as long as every ten years between tests. We all go by the same rules even though we don’t have the same bodies or family histories unless your doctor aggressively intervenes.

Ten years ago, I experienced some strange symptoms. I knew something was wrong and suspected why (a post-divorce diet of nothing but chocolate and nacho cheese Doritos). My doctor couldn’t pin my symptoms to anything serious and guidelines did not support more tests because I was under 50.

I fought on, and got all kinds of tests anyway, paying out of my own pocket. My doctor told me later that I probably saved my own life. (For a good article on protocols, read this piece by the Cato Institute.)

Subsequent articles by doctors indicate they are none too fond of them. Sometimes you just want what you want (in this case a test), even when you're not sure why.

Over the next few years, I will make the transition to full coverage in Mexico. A health insurance policy from a private insurer in Mexico with excellent coverage, including extra cancer coverage (cancer being the bane of our American 20th-century existence) runs about $1,600 a year. You have a two year wait before anything serious can be covered by that policy though, like it used to be in the U.S.

From my research so far, even a premium expat policy would cost less than insurance in the U.S. Expat policies enable you to be treated in almost any country other than the U.S.(and Japan) because international insurers know what a hosing they’ll receive from our completely corrupted healthcare system.

When the same drug costs one person $20 and another $200 because of their insurance, you know something's wrong.

When it comes to choosing your battles, at 50+ most of us know our bodies. I know that I have driven mine like a shiny red sports car - years of physically demanding sports and exercise without the diet to back it up. Subsequently, I like to check some parts more frequently than others. We all have a sense of our weakest links from our lifestyles and family histories.

A friend of mine, eager for me to get back to Mexico this year said, “Why don’t you just get your annuals here? It would cost you fifty bucks.”

Hospital Angeles del Carmen, one of the most important hospitals in Mexico.

That’s when I realized I can always soothe my inner hypochondriac in Mexico.

Should you ever want a test just because you want it, you can do it here at a fraction of the cost. If I want a second opinion, I can get one here at an affordable cost while in the U.S. it would not be covered.

Hi, I am a partner with Ventanas Mexico which provides insight and resources to those considering full or part-time expat life in Mexico, most recently "If Only I Had a Place" on renting here luxuriously, for less.